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Thursday 12 February 2026
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for what we mean by Science Fiction; here for the masthead; here for some Statistics; here for the Acknowledgments; here for the FAQ; here for advice on citations. Find entries via the search box above (more details here) or browse the menu categories in the grey bar at the top of this page.
Site updated on 9 February 2026
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Carver, Jeffrey A
(1949-2026) US author who began publishing sf with "... Of No Return" in Fiction Magazine for 1974. His first novel, Seas of Ernathe (1976), which serves as an introduction to the loose Star Rigger sequence of Space Operas, showed early signs of a love of plot and thematic complexity which would take him some time, and several novels, to control. The continuation, Star Rigger's Way (1978), for instance, combines quest ...
Miller, George
(1945- ) Australian film-maker (his Greek parents changed their name from Miliotis soon after his birth). After a satirical short film, A History of Violence in the Cinema, Part One (1975), Miller made an international impact with Mad Max (1979), a Near-Future cop/vigilante car-chase movie that introduced Mel Gibson to stardom as a leather-clad highway patrolman in an anarchic ...
Farr, David
(1969- ) UK director, screenwriter, playwright and author, active in various capacities in the UK Theatre from around 1990, including the direction of several plays. The dramaturgical thrust of several of his dramas engage with Fantastika, though at times only metaphorically. The Nativity (performed 1999; 1999 chap) edgily literalizes various miracles and manifestations clustered around Mary the ...
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
Videogame (1986). Infocom. Designed by Steve Meretzky. Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad, AppleII, Atari8, AtariST, C64, DOS, Mac. / Leather Goddesses of Phobos is a puzzle-based text Adventure game set in 1936. The eponymous alien women intend to invade Earth and turn it into their private pleasure world; as the adventure begins the player (having chosen a male or female character) is ...
Dennō Coil
["Cyber Coil"] Japanese animated tv series (2007). Madhouse, NHK-E. Directed by Mitsuo Iso. Written by Toshiki Inoue. Cast includes Fumiko Orikasa. 26 episodes of 25 minutes. Colour. / In the year 2026, schoolgirl Yūko Okonogi (Orikasa) moves with her family to Daikoku, a city with a hybrid function as both a real-world conurbation and a manifestation of the Internet. Residents of Daikoku can ...
Nicholls, Peter
(1939-2018) Australian editor and author, primarily a critic and historian of sf through his creation and editing of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction [see below]; resident in the UK 1970-1988, in Australia from 1988; worked as an academic in English literature (1962-1968, 1971-1977), scripted television documentaries, was a Harkness Fellow in Film-making (1968-1970) in the USA, worked as a publisher's editor (1982-1983), often broadcast film and book reviews on BBC Radio from 1974 and ...